Topic: The everything Xbox thread

@NEStalgia I'm honestly not too familiar with Forza 7 in terms of actually playing so can't give a hands on opinion. But I can somewhat compare the two.

Forza is going to have more cars & more of a variety of vehicles and has deep customization which is very minimal in GTS. GTS is really geared towards esports/racing geeks/serious car nuts. Forza is a more "casual" sim racer, I don't mean that as a negative just for clarification. It's more novice friendly with the amount of assists and things like that you can put on to find your individual sweet spot. It can scale from more "simcade" all the way up to hyper realistic. From what you've said tbh I don't think you're going to enjoy GTS that much. I do because I am a racing/car junkie but from what you said I would recommend forza 7 for you.

Edit. The VR integration is decent in GTS but if you're lookin for really good VR racing on psvr, I recommend Driveclub VR or Wipeout Collection. The latter is very intense though so be careful 😂

@redd214 Thanks, that's helpful! I technically already own both games (I even have the GTS pre-order fuzzy dice even though I ordered long after launch when it was like $15.00 with BB GCU) But GTS is still in shrinkwrap and Forza 7 is digital. And yeah, I'm surprised how much I've enjoyed my 3 Forza 7 races.....I may keep GTS on a long slow back burner.

Cool to hear about DriveClubVR....I do have that as well! Wipeout in VR sounds moderately terrifying.....it's awesome but terrifying in 2D!

I seem to have collected a lot of racing games for someone that doesn't even like racing games

@NEStalgia no problem man, happy to help. And yes Wipeout in VR is insane, literally insane. I have a pretty strong stomach and can usually do VR for an hour or so at a time but with that one after like 15 minutes I strmart getting squeamish. It's definitely a technical wonder but so much speed, so much color, so much going on it can overload your brain lol

@NEStalgia Yeah, I tried Project CARS on the Xbox One, to see what I missed because of it not coming to the Wii U, but I've deleted it after only a couple of tries. It's WAY too much of a sim, it's bone-dry and has so many settings, that it'll make your head spin. It looks fantastic, but playing it takes a LOT of practice.

In that, both GT and Forza are FAR more user-friendly, even though both are very good sims in their own right. Don't know why anyone would label Forza as feeling archaic, because they build upon it with each new game, and add tweaks and new stuff every time. And as mentioned before, they've already taken the crown from GT several years ago, with Forza 4.

I agree with @redd214 that Forza has even more of a low-level entry in that you can either switch on or switch off as many assists as you like, until you feel comfortable enough to stick with a certain setting. It's a nice way to get to grips with a real sim, by turning off settings one by one, the more experienced you get, until you end up playing in full-blown sim mode.

And for the other, and more fun stuff, there's always Horizon, for a bit of variety from the dead-serious sim racing...

In case anyone cares, MGS Peace Walker back compat is inexplicably really cheap if you buy it on the online store. Don't think it's an offer. Just think it's permanently really cheap.

@Dezzy It’s not permanent, it’s part of the E3 sale which ends in 2 days.

So now I have every console from this gen (PS4, Wii U, Switch, Xbox One) after buying an Xbox One from my friend.

Just like the Switch In will be using it to play MS exclusives such as Rare Replay, Killer Instinct, etc while still getting third part games on the PS4.

So far I don't like the UI I feel it's too cluttered and just a nightmare to navigate.

As for gaming I only played Battletoads today and for not playing the game in 20 years or so I was pleased that I made it to the fourth speeder bike course.

I learnt they couldn't literally after buying funds for that very reason. Annoying nonsense.

Still, ended up getting Ori and the Blind Forest with the funds.

@Tasuki Cluttered and a nightmare to navigate? Really? I honestly have no idea what you're talking about at ALL.

It rather sounds to me like your friend has modified the home page quite a bit. Normally, there's four rows of tiles: the first tile in the first row takes you straight to your games list or your last played game, the second is for Xbox Live apps, the third is for pins, and the fourth is for info and help concerning all things Xbox. (and there's actually also a fifth row, with only two tiles, that is titled "Add More")

Of course, there's always the chance that even the standard setting isn't for everybody, so you should/could fiddle with it a bit, until it is to your own personal liking and comfort. For example: I've put the Games with Gold tile on the first row, so that I'll always have easy and immediate access to all the free games on offer every month.

That's what I thought but it wasn't on the Deals page for me. I came across it by accident, which was incredibly lucky cos I was looking into trying to buy the physical version recently.

Also just bought The Witcher 2 for backcompat. Never played that so I'm excited for that one.

Backwards compatibility on Xbox One is awesome. 360 games run better on Xbox One and original Xbox games look like remasters with the extra resolution and AA.

And yeah the home menu can look as simple as you want. They updated the game lists too so you have a separate tab now for Game Pass, Gold an so on.

@BlueOcean

I still haven't got any original Xbox games. How are they upgraded exactly?

@Dezzy Resolution gets a huge boost on X at least, also much better anti-aliasing and better overall performance.

@Dezzy @BlueOcean From the official Microsoft Xbox Wire:

"Original Xbox games releasing tomorrow will look better on the Xbox One family of devices, taking advantage of the power of Xbox One with up to 4X the pixel count on Xbox One and Xbox One S, and up to 16X the pixel count on Xbox One X. You’ll be able to play Original Xbox games on Xbox One through the disc you already own, or you can purchase the games digitally in the Microsoft Store.

Since these are original games and not remasters, Xbox Live services such as online multiplayer that were available on the original Xbox will not be available. However, offline multiplayer scenarios such as co-op and system-link are supported as they were originally. There will also be no Achievements for Original Xbox games because this functionality was also not originally available".

Source link, for more info and comparison videos:
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2017/10/23/play-three-generations...

Mind you, it's an older article, so the list of games mentioned isn't up to date anymore; it's now WAY bigger already.

Thanks. Up to x16 resolution boost on X, wow. That also helps for much better anti-aliasing.

@Thanosrexxx I finally tried out Ryse: Son of Arkham Cool world, kind of fun and addictive, though I can't tell how short the campaign is. But boy does that copy the Arkham formula a little too completely

I ended up adding another HDD.....the 2TB SSHD is neat, but I added a 6TB now too. X Sure eats space. I had bought a 4TB 2.5" drive since I hate the power bricks and noise of 3.5"s but it was so slow. Sea of Thieves has abysmal load times, but it took 40 seconds or so less on the SSHD (initial load isn't helped by the SS part....so it was just the platter speed doing the lifting.) .....2.5 just doesn't cut it.

@Tasuki You'll get used to the interface. I hated it but I quickly learned to love it...it's waaay better than PS4s. (XBone at launch had the worst UI I've ever seen....Win8 based...yuck....but it's actually good now.) PS4 is a mess with a "command bar" above the "Games" bar, and important things scattered everywhere. Downloads are in notifications, friends in friends, game library at the end of your game row (with purchased and installed on one page but separated by a hidden line), settings nested 4 layers deep in the settings, and game data has 3 window-panes deep and STILL doesn't display the actual file size without going into the store! I hated the XMB of PS3 until I saw PS4.

The big thing that's different about X1 and PS4/Switch is: Basically you never ever use the home screen. Ever. It's just there as a default place to load the machine with no game running. EVERYTHING is on the quick nav when you hit the XBox button. A small overlay with a permanent button to your games library, MS store, and "pins" (anything else you want to have on your quicknav), with your last 5 or so running games/apps below it, a download display if you're actively downloading, and a Gold/GamePass button if you subscribe....and everything else on the various tabs of the quicknav (a friends tab, settings tab, profile tab etc)....it's really quick and intuative to use. It's "different" than the others, but everything is right on that pane (or a quick way to jump between things.) And "guide button" presses are "right click" for context menus. PS4 drags you through the whole home interface everything you want to do. So does Switch, but I still give the nod to Switch for the BEST UI. Simple, fast, basic, no fluff, everything is mostly in one place, even if it's on the home screen.

@BlueOcean @Dezzy On the X some of those OG XBox games are actually somewhat remastered for the X.....I'm not sure what improvements do or don't make it into the S though. Jade Empire looks gorgeous with a big texture upgrade on the X. It's still 4:3 letterbox since that's all the game was designed for, but it's otherwise gorgeous. KotOR is 16:9 with upgraded textures and great res. The models still look trash though....it's a Bioware RPG....it is what it is. Looks about the same as it did on the PC version in the Vista era. Jade Empire looks considerably better than it did on my PC. I know they say One X Enhanced...but I imagine SOME of htat improvement has to apply to S?

@NEStalgia Son of Arkham? I have both games, and I don't think they're similar at all. And the game isn't all that short. Especially if you have the complete edition, which can keep you busy for plenty of hours, especially as it keeps getting harder the further you get, so some sections are definitely gonna take you quite a few retries...

Agreed on the Xbox One's interface, but then again: I would, wouldn't I? Especially coming from the REAL clutter that was the Xbox 360's revamped interface. Idiotic idea, having to navigate to the fourth page of the menu to even get to your game list, let alone to start a certain game...

As for your reply to Dezzy and BlueOcean: you could have saved yourself the trouble, since I already gave them the answer, also about improvements on the S.

@ThanosReXXX I haven't played Arkam since City on WiiU (I have Knight on X1 though) but the combat/counter/QT finisher loop made me think Arkham instantly. Not a bad thing, mind, but a little on the nose.

Yeah I got the complete edition. Glad to hear it's not short! (The campaign progress bar on the pause screen worried me. "37% through ch2 of 8 and I've only played 30 minutes!" It's fun doing that at the same time as Nioh on PS4. Similar focus on easy to die combat.

The 360 interface was horrid by the end! It just got worse every patch!

yeah I saw your reply but I was adding specific game examples with the caveat that I don't know how much of that applies to S or not.

@NEStalgia I totally agree about Xbox One (current) UI and I couldn't describe it better anyway. I find it useful and well-thought-out.

Yes, there are a lot of Xbox and Xbox 360 games that are enhanced, which is awesome.

The Xbox One probably has one of the best UI’s in my opinion. The PS4’s is kind of ugly and has some really strange layout choices imo, and the Switch is a step back from the Wii U and even 3DS.